TRUSU IDays initiative seeks to debunk Islamophobia

TRUSU equity committee breaks down five of the most prominent myths about Islam and Muslims

The event focused on breaking down five myths which are that Muslims are violent terrorists, Islam is intolerant of other religions, Islam oppresses women, all Muslims are the same and Muslims are the same as Arabs. (Nada Alsalahi/The Omega)

On Tuesday March 7, the TRU Student Union Equity Committee invited students to join the debunking of Islamophobia discussion. The event took place on Student Street in Old Main and it ran from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

Equity committee members broke down five Islamophobic myths and explored where they come from. Muslims are violent terrorists, Islam is intolerant of other religions, Islam oppresses women, all Muslims are the same and Muslims are the same as Arabs are all myths that were explored in the event.

“We are debunking five common myths about Islamophobia and about the Muslim’s faith, and trying to get the students to have a different perspective on that,” said Sierra Rae, a TRUSU equity committee member.

“It’s important because it’s so common in the media right now, and people are seeing a lot of, and for Muslim and non-Muslim students they can see that they have that support,” Rae said.

Students showed interest in the event by asking and discussing the myths. Faloyo Adelanke Olamilekan, who is a Christian student at TRU, believes that such myths should never be associated with a religion.

“We have some terrorists in the world who might be Muslims, but it has nothing to do with the religion. We also have some Christian who are also terrorists because terrorism is a concept. So, it shouldn’t be associated with Islam. What if a Christian became a terrorist? What do we call that? It is a concept, and I think religion and terrorism should be separated to two different things, and we shouldn’t bring them together,” Olamilekan said.

TRU IDays is an annual celebration of its international community. Running March 7 to 10, this year’s events focuses on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

“The importance of the international days is bringing everybody together. We’ve got people from different countries from all over the world. I think it is part of the education because we have to take the education beyond the classroom. In the sense that we have to learn from each other. We have to learn from other cultures, and we have to learn about the way they do things different than ours and how to live together as one,” Olamilekan said.